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Faecal shield of the tortoise beetle Plagiometriona aff. flavescens (Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae) as chemically mediated defence against predators

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2005

Flávia Nogueira-de-Sá  and
José Roberto Trigo
Flávia Nogueira-de-Sá
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ecologia Química, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, CP 6109, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil
José Roberto Trigo
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ecologia Química, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, CP 6109, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil
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Abstract

Larvae of Plagiometriona aff. flavescens carry a structure on their back made of faeces and exuviae, called faecal shield, which may protect larvae against natural enemies. Previous investigations suggested that the nature of such protection was chemical. To test if chemicals found in the faecal shield of Plagiometriona aff. flavescens provided defence for larvae, experiments in the field and in the laboratory (using the ant Camponotus crassus, and chicks Gallus gallus as model predators) were undertaken. Both field and laboratory experiments showed that live larvae with faecal shields, as well as baits treated with faecal shield extracts, were rejected by predators, confirming the chemical nature of this kind of defence.

Keywords

Aureliana fasciculatachemical defencelarval defencenatural enemiespredationSolanaceae
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , March 2005 , pp. 189 - 194
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

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